You’ve got some fans that love the navy-gold-green, and others like myself that love the purple.

My opinion has really evolved over the years from wanting mountain colors to eventually preferring the inaugural colors for the identity. I feel like that’s what it should be and what they should have went back to in 2004.

Now I know a lot of you are thinking “but wait! That’s Mardi Gras colors! Nothing to do with Utah!”, and I get that. I totally do. But I’m a huge history buff, and there’s something special to me about looking at the greatest players in Jazz history and seeing a consistent colorway worn between them all. Maravich. Dantley. Griffith. Stockton. Malone. Eaton. They all wore purple, green, and gold. They’re all tied together by it. Plus, the Jazz wore that combo with some variation longer in Utah than they did in New Orleans, which with the history allowed for them to adapt well into Utah colors.

I think they established enough of an identity and a history with purple, green, and gold, that it transcended New Orleans or Mardi Gras and worked still in Utah. At least, I see that as a lifelong fan. So if I were calling the shots, that’s exactly what they’d be in today and onward so the current and future stars could be connected to that history.

The whole Mardi Gras colors not having to do with Utah never made much sense to me. I know, the New Orleans Jazz colors were clearly derived from Mardi Gras, but by happenstance the Purple/Green/Gold/White color scheme ported very well to Utah, from "Purple mountains majesty" and their snow-capped peaks to Green and Gold (or Yellow), which I would associate more with summer in the mountains with the foliage and sunsets. Of course, the 1996 rebrand turned the mountain imagery up to 11, but even before that the colors, albeit much more subtly and, just like the name, was not designed with Utah in mind.

11 hours ago, mattharveysc said:

As a lifelong Utah Jazz fan since Day 1, I thought i'd add my own two-cents on what I feel is the teams "colors".

I've been a sports fan and logo, uniform, branding junkie for as long as I can remember.

As a sports fan and a sports designer I really enjoy NBA teams who have stayed true to their identity (ie: Boston, LA Lakers, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, etc). Teams that have stayed true to their colors, identity, and maybe a few updated looks. I respect that. That is the kind of level i'd love for the Jazz to be on.

With that said, I feel the Jazz may have finally found "their colors" with the Navy Blue, Gold, and Green. I know that it may have taken the team some time to experiment, but me personally this is their best color scheme and I feel it pays more of a nod to Utah. I hope the team can finally stick with this scheme and make it last forever. Everyone I know loves their colors and especially loves the "J-Note" logo. It's who the Jazz are.

I PRAY they don't rebrand or anything. Stick to this identity. It works.

I feel their primary logo, court, colors, are the best the team has ever had. The uniforms are still growing on me. (The 66-Degree angle cut on the uniforms is a nice touch. I like it, but I don't LOVE it.)

I will say though I love the City Uniforms. I do love how the team has branded their City Uniforms to reflect the state and pay tribute to the Southern part of Utah. Everything about them is just great. I can't wait to see what they come up with for the next City uniforms.

I know I may be one of the few who loves this look the Jazz have right now. It's just my own opinion.

I hope my other die-hard Jazz fans out there agree with me.

Either way, I'm a Jazz fan for life!

First of all, welcome to the boards! I hope you enjoy talking about team uniforms, colors, and the like as the rest of us weirdos.

11 hours ago, kimball said:

I echo you on everything. This is the best Jazz look. I think what you're seeing with City Jerseys is what they tried to capture with their rebrand in 1996 -- it's Utah. I'm excited to what other designs they have in store for the jerseys in the future, but it really works for the Jazz because the nickname isn't synonymous with Utah.

Second, as I largely echo both your same sentiments, I feel that Navy Blue/Dark Green/Gold is a natural progression from the original Purple/Green/Gold and does slightly fit Utah better than the original color scheme. I'm not sure why, but it probably has something to do with how prevalent blue is among local high school and college teams and, well, seeing snow-capped peaks on a clear, cold winter's night just after the sun's gone down.

I've kinda been fatigued with all the color schemes the Jazz have trotted out every 7-8 or so years since 1996, but I don't think there's been a bad one among them. Unless you want to count the Green Bay Packers throwbacks as part of their current color scheme, I can't think of a Big 4 team that wears some form of Blue, Green, and Yellow. Sure, I feel the current colors could be lightened up or tweaked a bit (at least as far as the green goes). I feel that navy and a kelly-ish green (like the Dallas Stars' shade) would look awesome with the shade of gold the Jazz have. Of course, I wouldn't mind a return to purple, though I'd go with either a dark purple or a Purple-y Blue. I would've also been interested in seeing how the Jazz would have looked had they went back to the Note logo while staying with the two-tone blue color scheme, or using a simplified variation of their 1996-2004 look, like Purple/Light Blue/Black/Copper--possibly with the note.

As a native southern Utahn, I'm a sucker for shades of red, orange, and gold, so I also have a soft spot for the City State uniforms, despite their off-brandedness. If I ever were to be lucky and rich enough to place a (minor-league) professional sports team based out of, say, St. George, I'd be hard-pressed to not include some design elements or colors reminiscent of the Jazz's State (yes, I'm calling them that) uniforms (in fact, the idea has been swirling around in my head for some time before the uniforms were announced, but real life has prevented putting pen to paper). Anyways, I'd love it if the uniforms (or the elements, at least well-short of a full recolor) found a way to stick around even after next year, even in limited use form. Possibly take the lighter part of the gradient (gold to orange) and put it on the numbers? Or always have an alternate with the full gradient as a side panel? I think that gradient numbers or side panels--at least the lighter part of it--would look good on a navy blue or dark green jersey.

I normally don't ramble on like this.

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I LOVE the Heat's city uni! I love everything 80's and I watched Miami Vice back then. I would love to see those colors full time. There are plenty of teams with red and black, but only the Heat could pull those colors off.

This past Buzz City uni for the Hornets was too black and white for me. I liked the pattern on the side, but I miss the black and teal of the previous version.

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Just to weigh in on the Jazz: I loved the 1996 change. They may not have changed the team name when moving from New Orleans (which is fine), but at least they finally made the Jazz uniquely "Utah." The only way I'd want the Jazz to go back to purple is if they go with something inspired by the 90's look.

The 2004 switch was ok, but nothing too exciting. I did like the changes to the logo though -- much cleaner than the original '96. And, technically, purple was still in there somewhere.

I found the change to navy, gold, and green pretty jarring at first. It seemed like a well-intentioned attempt to combine the original set with the third blue scheme, but didn't quite accomplish that (and neither did the logo re-color). Maybe the striping patterns were too busy.

However, I really like the current identity. I think the navy/gold/green in the current, simpler form really is a good progression from the mardi gras colors. It's connected to the team history, but also has a personality of its own. And I agree with Matthrveysc and Kimball: best look ever for the Jazz.

As for the City jerseys, I was completely against the idea of a gradient and such a drastic change to the color scheme, but they grew on me pretty quickly, and I'm glad they'll be around for another year (the calls by some for a change in team identity are more than a bit much, though).

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Actually, word from Nike is that they’ll be the first team in the league to have the LeBron logo in place of the swoosh...

That'd be an interesting move, considering that LeBron could (in theory) still be on the team but not have any ownership stake in the team, where as the Jordan logo appears on the Hornets uni's because he OWNS the team.